1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to suspensions for supporting read/write heads over recording media. In particular, the present invention is a head suspension assembly having a microactuator mounted on the base plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disk drives include disk drive suspensions for supporting read/write heads over information tracks of rotating disks. The well known and widely used Watrous-type suspensions include a load beam having a mounting region on a proximal end, a flexure on a distal end, a relatively rigid region adjacent to the flexure and a spring region between the mounting region and rigid region. An air-bearing slider which includes the read/write head is mounted to the flexure. The mounting region is typically attached to a base plate for mounting the load beam to an actuator arm. A motor which is controlled by a servo control system rotates the actuator arm to position the read/write head over desired information tracks on the disk. This type of suspension is used with both magnetic or non-magnetic disks.
Disk drive manufacturers continue to develop smaller yet higher storage capacity drives. Storage capacity increases are achieved in part by increasing the density of the information tracks on the disks (i.e., by using narrower and/or more closely spaced tracks). As track density increases, however, it becomes increasingly difficult for the motor and servo control system to quickly and accurately position the read/write head over the desired track.
The use of head suspensions having microactuators or fine tracking motors has been proposed to overcome these problems. One such suspension is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/457,432 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,188) filed Jun. 6, 1995 by Jurgenson et al. entitled Head Suspension with Tracking Microactuator which is assigned to Hutchinson Technology Incorporated, the assignee of the present application.
There is, however, a continuing need for improved head suspensions having microactuators. In particular, the head suspension/microactuator combination must be capable of quickly and accurately positioning the read/write head. The head suspension/microactuator should also be light weight to minimize detrimental effects on the resonance characteristics of the suspension, and relatively thin to enable close disk-to-disk spacing. To be commercially viable the head suspension/microactuator must also be reliable and capable of being efficiently manufactured.